The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
(All Souls)

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Lodovico Mazzolino. Resurrecction of Lazarus. 38 x 51 cm.Introduction

We celebrated yesterday the Solemnity of All Saints. It was a happy and joyous celebration. We contemplated our saints and we thought about the saints of our family who also died in God’s grace, and with the hope of being able to celebrate this feast after a few years, or very soon, because life goes by quickly.

Today, the Church wants us to pray for the deceased. May these, and all who sleep in Christ, find in your presence light, happiness, and peace (from the Eucharistic Prayer I).

And why do we pray for the deceased? Because we believe that, to see God as He is, we have to be clean of heart. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God (Mt 5:8). We also believe that they may be in a place of purification which we call Purgatory.

What is Purgatory?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven (C.C.C. nº 1030). The Church calls this final purification of the chosen ones, Purgatory.

Basilea de 1487. Hieronymus Tschekkenbürlin and Death. (40 x 29 cm each side).Reflection on the reading of the book of the Maccabees

The book of Maccabees tells us that Judas fought against Gorgias, governor of Idumea, and in that combat some of his soldiers died. On the following day, the men of Judas, not being able to wait any longer, went to recover the bodies of those who had fallen, in order to bury them with their relatives in the tombs of their ancestors. They then realized that, under the coats of each one were objects consecrated to the idols of Yamnia, prohibited by the law of the Jews. Then all understood that that had been the cause of their death.

What did Judas do then? He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death (2 Mac 12, 43-44).

Calvary. Creta School. 16th century.On the gospel

The gospel that we have just heard, has told us about the resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain (Lk 7:1-16). Two retinues meet: The retinue of death, carrying a  young dead man accompanied by his mother, who was a widow, with the relatives and friends; and the other, the one of Jesus and his disciples, and a great multitude that followed him.

This is the scene. Who will win: death or life?

Jesus, upon seeing the poor mother who bitterly mourned the death of her son, felt sorry for her and, with gentleness, tells her not to cry!

Jesus, why do you tell her not to cry if it is so natural for the poor mother to bitterly cry the death of her son?

Jesus, what are you going to do?

He could have gone by, but he doesn’t. He takes the initiative, moved by the compassion for a widow who had lost what she loved the most: her son.

Jesus approached the  coffin and touched it. Those who were carrying it, stopped. Then, He who is Life said to the dead young man: arise!, and the young man sat up, and to demonstrate that he was no longer dead but alive, he began to speak. Jesus who had found that young man dead, with much gentleness, gave him back alive to his mother who was filled with joy and stopped crying. The evangelist adds: Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, "A great prophet has arisen in our midst," and "God has visited his people." (Lk 7:16)

May the Lord console us when we lose a loved one, as he consoled that mother!

The preface of the mass for the dead says: Because the life of those you create, Lord, is not destroyed, it is transformed; and, when we lose the earthly dwelling, we receive an eternal mansion in Heaven.

At the end of our pilgrimage through this world, we will not find ourselves in emptiness, nothingness, but in the arms of God who will receive us as the Father He is.

Pablo Picaso.Our prayer for the deceased

As we do not know if our deceased are in heaven, we pray and have masses celebrated for their souls. With our prayers, we can help them to come out of purgatory. It is the best way we can help them.

Brothers and sisters, this is our faith and, because we have this faith, we have come to pray for our deceased, for our relatives and friends. But also for the other deceased who, perhaps, nobody knows nor remembers: today we do not want to exclude anyone from our prayer.

Before finishing, let me tell you an anecdote: One day I was in the sachristy, when the driver of the funeral home came and said to me: “I’m only bringing the deceased, with nobody to accompany him”. I came out and I asked the sachristan to come with me, and we both prayed for the deceased. How sad it must be to die alone, without company, and to be buried this way!

The monk of Poblet, father Agustí Altisent, writes: “For quite a few years now, I am no longer a young man, and I am getting old. I am losing my strength; I am also losing the visual and auditory capacity. I am losing my memory... For the believer,  to become old is like putting oneself in the good hands of God. It is like surrendering to him, one after another, the faculties that he gave us. As it thought that they were mine, it hurts me to verify that I am losing them. I think that, when I will have surrendered them all, I will finally have to surrender to Him my will to live here and now. I know that it will not be easy for me. But every day I ask that His will be done and not mine.

The best way to help the deceased is to offer the Holy Mass for them, to give some alms and to pray for them.

May our relatives, friends and, and we ourselves, one day hear these words said to us by Jesus: “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.” (Mt 25:21)